


A Shadow of Flowers

by meloshi



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Castle Oblivion (Kingdom Hearts), Gen, Hanahaki Disease, M/M, One-Sided Attraction, and also it fits with hanahaki disease, and lauriam is a thing, bc we all know hes a special flower, but as a heartless, marluxia appears
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-29
Updated: 2019-02-03
Packaged: 2019-03-11 06:26:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 3,051
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13518435
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/meloshi/pseuds/meloshi
Summary: Sora returns to Castle Oblivion after learning about a worrying Shadow inhabiting it where he defeated Marluxia all those months ago. Naturally, he goes to finish off what he apparently couldn’t do all that time ago, but something about this Shadow is strange…Hanahaki Disease AU/Canon Divergence





	1. Unknowingly Setting Up For Disaster

**Author's Note:**

> i had this idea as soon as lauriam was announced because just how Xion turned into a giant heartless i feel like so would Marluxia (being a(n ex??) keyblade wielder and all)
> 
> let me know what you think so far and i'll probably continue this!!!

“Castle Oblivion?” That wasn’t a place Sora was expecting to return to at any point in the near future… He could remember what happened with Naminé the last time he was there and how his memories were lost and replaced and fixed, and it honestly frightened him to his core. He could still feel a twinge in his heart, a sense of longing to both return and stay as far away as possible from the castle of white. He was conflicted.

“It has come to my attention that something, a Shadow of sorts, is there. A remnant of Marluxia from when you defeated him if I were to give it a name.” Yen Sid spoke with a flick of his wrist, a shimmer of sparks appearing and creating a picture of a Shadow that looked awfully familiar to Marluxia’s Specter. The head of it bore the insignia of a Nobody, and was cloaked in what seemed to be a torn-up Organisation XIII cloak, the sleeves of it completely tattered, showing off one arm of thorns and flowers (pink in colour mainly, but yellow and white too) and the other arm being flesh melded into a weapon reminiscent of Marluxia’s scythe, though something seemed off. It was shorter. It had a handle, green and pink and right where the elbow should have been. And though it was curved and looked sharp, it was more blade like, sword like. Sora couldn’t quite pinpoint what it reminded him of. “It is idle at the moment, it’s merely stands there in that room, but we cannot risk letting it become a problem.”

“So… you want me to go and get rid of it, yeah?”

“Indeed. I can’t let Riku go due to the fact we have two new keyblade wielders in training now, so the task is yours.”

“Sure! You can count on me!” Sora saluted Yen Sid with his signature carefree smile and ran off to get ready.

The task seemed easy enough, after all he’d defeated the Organisation and countless heartless and Xehanort however many times the old guy had appeared – a single remnant of a Nobody wasn’t going to be a problem.

Or at least he hoped…


	2. Return

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> aha,,, this is so long overdue oops  
> hope y'all enjoy though! I'll try keeping my kh fics upd8ed properly from now on - this one might be a bit tricky because while i know where it's going im having a bit of difficultly putting all that into words;;;  
> leave a comment/kudos if you liked this chapter! it's greatly appreciated and always keeps me motivated to write more for y'all!

The castle was just as he remembered, and as Roxas remembered, and as Xion remembered. It was strange to come to a place that held such significance but for such conflicting reasons. He himself could remember it as the place he saved Naminé from, the place where he’d lost his memories, the place he faced trail after trial of confusion. His memories of Roxas were painful, it was the place that his Nobody had only been to once but had left him with a blank mind that screamed to stay away from it. The memories of Xion were so conflicting, the most tragic of all of them. As the place she was created, the place she found out she wasn’t real, the place that brought about her downfall… It was strange to return to Castle Oblivion after all that had transpired there.

It looked the same as before but felt like an entirely difference place. There was a sinister aura surrounding it, something that grew as he walked down the halls and came closer and closer to the scene of the final battle.

The thought of Naminé passed through his mind. He was glad that the castle wasn’t messing with his memories anymore since she was gone, but he felt like it was so empty without her there.

Castle Oblivion…

It was the most pivotal place in his life, he would argue. He had a sinking feeling in his stomach; after everything that had happened there, he couldn’t help but feel as if something just as terrible, something just as awful, would happen again.

No, that was just crazy! One place couldn’t hide so much tragedy.

So, Sora walked on through the halls of white. There were just as many doors and passageways as the last time he, himself, was there and it was just as confusing to try and find he way along each of them, but he wasn’t going to give up. Master Yen Sid was counting on him after all! He wished he had asked Donald and Goofy to accompany him, but he hadn’t wanted to bother them, especially since they didn’t exactly get very much time off from adventuring and working. With a short while of peace, they’d both gone back to the castle, Donald wanting to spend time with Daisy and Goofy wanting to see his wife and Max. Sora wasn’t going to pull them away from their loved ones.

He journeyed on through the castle. Despite the fact there weren’t any heartless around, Sora kept his keyblade drawn and ready to strike at a moments notice. He wasn’t going to let himself get caught off guard or tricked again, especially not after what happened during the Mark of Mastery Exam.

After all, who knew what lingering evil was hidden behind any one of the many doors of Castle Oblivion…


	3. Pity

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> chapter 3 lets go  
> (also yes, i know the quote from larxene is about xion but what if Marluxia? I like entertaining the idea that he used to/way trying to use a keyblade so oops)
> 
> enjoy! leave a comment/kudos if you've got the time - i love hearing from you all, and it helps me write better/more!!!

He’d found it.

  
Sora found the heartless that Master Yen Sid had shown him. It looked just like Marluxia’s Specter, more so in person, and yet still so much more humanoid. It was like Marluxia’s scythe had attached itself to the heartless’ arm but on closer inspection it wasn’t a scythe at all.

  
It lunged at him.

  
One.

Thunder!

Two.

Parry.

Counterattack, slapshot, aerial sweep.

Firaga!

Sliding dash.

Three.

Four.

It was just like fighting another keyblade wielder. But that couldn’t be! Why would something resembling Marluxia be like a keyblade wielder? There was no connection between the two. Was there?

_‘That Keyblade...The things that could be done with that sort of power...’_

_’Unless, of course, we put somebody else on keyblade duty…’_

What? What was that? Who were those voices and what did they mean? Before Sora could even try to figure it out, a snarl came from behind him.

"Gi-e St--z-a b-k…” And a searing pain ran through Sora’s body as he flew forwards into the wall with a swing of the heartless’ blade directly into his back. He was flung into the wall and the heartless stalked over to him, walking slowing, dragging its weapon along the floor with a scraping noise. Sora looked up at the insignia of a Nobody staring back down at him and frowned. He summoned his keyblade in his other hand, jumping up and swinging right at the monster when it lifted its blade.

“Whe—is s-e?!” The heartless screeched as it swung it’s blade in a frenzy, sending petals flying around the room in swirling winds. Sora jumped back in a defensive position and waited for the right moment, storing energy ready to cast the final blows. The guttural screams coming from the monster grew louder and angrier and in a split second, Sora saw it.

His chance.

He cast a barrage of Firaga (assuming it was like Marluxia, it must be weak to fire magic too, right?), one after the other until his magic power was gone and as the heartless shrieked from it’s stunned position, he ran towards it, ramming his keyblade as far through the chest of the heartless as he could.

And in an instant, it burst into a pile of flowers, a black ooze spread across it, and a foul sweet stench lingering in the air. With his victory safely in hand, Sora sighed and got rid of his keyblade. He was sure he wouldn’t need to make it rematerialize any time soon considering the battle was over.

He fell downwards, to sit on the floor, in front of the pile of flowers.

He… almost felt sorry for Marluxia, as he did for all the Nobodies. They didn’t seem to be inherently bad, just misled, and if the heartless he’d just faced was an indication of anything, it was that they had incredibly strong hearts that could have been a force for good if only the right people have met them. He cursed Xehanort under his breath and sighed, picking up one of the flowers.  
It really was a shame they led the existences they did. He briefly wondered if the others from the organisation were resting peacefully, returned with their original bodies…  
Sora brought the flower to his face and inhaled. It smelt like tears.

_Roxas._

Of course, his own Nobody would be taking his thoughts personally, but he felt as if it were something else. There was something else there. A sadness he couldn’t quite place, lingering in the depths of his mind. Roxas had spent an entire year around the rest of the organisation, and he was the most human of all of them, because he didn’t deny his feelings. He must have felt something for each of them. Sora felt dumb for thinking only bad things of them all the time. Most of them were just searching for a way to be whole again, unaware of Xehanort’s plans…

He turned ready to leave, not noticing the way the remnants of the Marluxia like heartless disappeared into pink sparkles and shrouded over him.

Sora sneezed and made his way back to report his success to Master Yen Sid. Maybe he’d see how Kairi and ~~Axel~~ Lea were getting along. Maybe he’d check up on Riku.


	4. One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> short again oops  
> first occurrence but everything seems fine, right?

When Sora returned, he didn’t have to look far in order to find his friends. Kairi and Lea were practicing fighting against each other with Riku watching over them. Sora laughed as he watched his childhood friend and previous enemy going at it and couldn’t help but jump in.

He leaped into the battle, catching both of the new keyblade wielders off guard, as he summoned his two keyblades and knocked both of their blades from their hands, sending them flying in opposite directions. Sora laughed and got rid of his keyblades, putting his hands of his hips. Kairi ran over to give him a hug.

“Sora! You’re back, how’d it go?” She smiled up at him. Lea and Riku walked over as she detached herself from Sora.

“I’m guessing from that performance, it went well?” Riku grinned, pushing his fringe back with one hand and his other on his hip. Sora smiled back at him and laughed.

“You bet it did. I sent that heartless to the realm that doesn’t exist!” He grinned and felt a strange tickle in his throat. When Lea congratulated him for finally getting rid of ‘the pink flower power bastard’ for once and for all, he gave him a pat on the back and Sora couldn’t stop himself from coughing from the pressure of it.

But when he started coughing, he couldn’t stop, and it wasn’t until a withered yellow petal came out of his throat, covered in saliva, that he stopped. He looked at the petal that had landed in his hand and immediately dropped it in disgust onto the floor.

“Ewwww, that was gross… I had Marluxia inside me…” It must have gotten in while he was fighting the heartless and gotten stuck without him realising. Sora pouted wiping his tongue with his sleeve, sending his three friends into raucous laughter.

“Sora, don’t ever word it like that again, _please_.” Lea wheezed out, squatting to stop himself from falling over. Kairi followed in suite, sitting down and holding her stomach as if it would stop hurting it she did so. Riku put a hand on his shoulder and shook his head, a smile playing with his lips. Sora looked at him and could help but want to laugh too, but he refrained from doing so. He felt like he needed to cough again, and he didn’t need another petal coming out.

He settled for a smile instead, but it didn’t make the feeling go away.


	5. Just Thinking

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey uhhhh that kh3 huh?  
> w i l d  
> im still reeling with theories and feelings and hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh i have so much to say about it but no one to talk to aha
> 
> anyways i finished it a few days ago and i remembered i was writing this so here it is again aha  
> i hope you enjoy! leave a comment/kudos if you feel so inclined too!!!!

Kairi and Lea were progressing so well in their efforts to wield their keyblades, like it came even more naturally to them than it did Sora, but that wasn’t a bad thing at all despite the way it sounds – Sora was glad there would be more strong people to fight off Xehanort with!

Mickey had told them about his old friend, Master Aqua, and how she needed rescuing from the Realm of Darkness too. Sora’s heart ached to hear her name and her story; she didn’t deserve to be alone in such a place for so long and something inside him made him want to go save her as soon as he’d heard about it. He wanted to yell that he could go save her, knowing that, if he did, his voice would be full of certainty. But Riku was asked. Something about them both being keyblade masters…

It made sense, of course, but in everything that had happened, Sora almost felt like he was getting left behind. He didn’t exactly have the most important role, as far as he could tell. Kairi was a princess of heart and a keyblade wielder! She was powerful and strong and protected from the darkness that Xehanort and all his iterations used so freely. Lea still had his affinity for fire, his magic stronger than ever when used alongside his keyblade, and it wasn’t as if the enemy knew about his new abilities or the fact he had retained some, so he had a great element of surprise. Riku was…

Well.

Riku was Riku. Sora couldn’t begin to think of words to describe how important Riku was. Ever since they met as children, Sora knew Riku was important, not just in the way that he was so driven to do things, but in the way that he meant so much to Sora.

Their friendship and rivalry was the best relationship Sora had ever had, and not even Kairi had changed that much. Sure, she’d been a catalyst that had started a lot more than either of them could have believed would happen, and Sora had fallen for her pretty fast which may have made the two boys more competitive, but it was all in good fun. Both he and Riku loved Kairi, maybe just not in the same way as when they were kids. With all the adventures they had been on it was inevitable for things to have changed even further.

And maybe Sora didn’t think of Riku the same way he did when they were kids either…

There was another tickle in Sora’s throat as he sighed, the uncomfortable sensation rendering him in a fit of hacking coughs until another bright yellow petal came flying out of his throat covered in a thin veil of saliva.

He clutched at his neck, wondering just what it was doing there. The fight with Marluxia’s remains had ended days ago so it only served to confound him.

Perhaps it was something to bring up with Master Yen Sid…


	6. Clues

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> heck it double update, yeaaaa boiiiii!  
> the secret movie is giving me bad ideas for another soriku fic and its only bad bc,,, well, we all know how awful i am at updating this lmao, but who knows, maybe it'll come true in the future, when this is done and ive learnt my lesson about multific writing sdfadskl
> 
> anyyyyyways! dont forget to leave kudos/a comment if you'd like to and I hope you enjoy!  
> see y'all next update!

“What’d ya mean you don’t know what it is?” Sora whined, eyes wide with worry as his hands were scrunched up in his hair.

“I mean just that, Sora. There’s some kind of magic affecting you, but it’s beyond what I have studied; I’ve never seen anything like it before.” Yen Sid replied, his voice as calm as ever, but the way he furrowed his brow made it clear that there was something bothering him. “If I could figure out what caused it, what is triggering the recurrence of it, then I could help, but…”

Sora didn’t know what to say. The single yellow petal floated above the table, almost taunting him with its very existence, and it didn’t want to disclose any information as to why what was happening was happening! If he could force answers from an inanimate object then he would, but that was beyond his powers, especially after all that had happened with Xehanort in his dreams…

He poked his forehead and shut his eyes tightly, hoping for some kind of answer to form in his mind, but nothing came to him. The first time he’d coughed up a flower petal was after his fight with the Marluxia like thing in Castle Oblivion, and that didn’t seem too strange considering that plants were his affinity, but the second time it happened? There was nothing! No connection! All he’d done was think about his friends and…

“Oh!” He exclaimed out loud without warning. “There was something!”

“Do tell.” Yen Sid urged, leaning ever so slightly forward and awaiting an answer to perhaps help him in figuring out this predicament.

“Well, the shadow said something weird back at the castle y’see? It was all scratchy and cut off though, I couldn’t hear it exactly, but…” He closed his eyes and thought back. “It sounded angry... No. Upset. It sounded upset.” One of his hands closed around the necklace around his neck and he opened his eyes with a strange feeling of compassion for Marluxia. “It… He sounded like he missed someone, he wanted them back… That… He’d failed to protect them.” The angles of the crown around his neck dug into his palm and upon realising what he’d said, it almost brought him to tears.

It was a familiar feeling as to the one of wanting to save Aqua. He knew there was some sort of tragedy but he didn’t know what, or how he knew. He just did.

Yen Sid looked at him and nodded when their eyes met.

“I’ll see what I can do, Sora. We need you for this fight that is coming up after all, you are one of our seven lights.” Sora could just agree with what he said, it wasn’t like he had anything else to contribute unless he started retching up more flora… “Take care of yourself, and, please, tell me if it happens again.”

Sora saluted him and bowed before leaving the room. He could do his best to avoid any mishaps for sure, but he would have to keep an eye on what he did, or what was around him if it did happen again. Anything could be a clue after all.

Maybe Mickey would have a clue. He always had a plethora of information that even Yen Sid didn’t when it came to magic due to his different experiences, so it wouldn’t hurt to ask his advice too! Maybe he’d even see Riku at the same time?


End file.
